Third Sector Performance

Global financial crisis and colossal sovereign debt has resulted in the need for radical cuts in public expenditure in many countries. Against this background, the contributions in Third Sector Performance acknowledge that, as a result, more imaginative ways of delivering public services are being sought. In countries like the UK, the new concept of The Big Society envisages third sector, or not-for-profit, or charitable organizations and social enterprises stepping in to mitigate the loss of vital public services. This development also gives rise to the likelihood that third sector financial institutions such as credit unions and a possible 'Big Society Bank' will grow in importance. The performance of all these enterprises looks set to become a much more critical issue than it has been in the past. The editors have gathered in this volume, chapters reflecting the fact that third sector organizations are not the same as conventional businesses and are also subtly different from the public sector. There is currently a dearth of knowledge and a lack of research into issues around performance in the Third Sector or Civil Society. This book begins to fill a void in the knowledge base. The internationally sourced contributions represent a balanced offering of academic research findings and practitioner accounts from the Third Sector, together with a section devoted specifically to third sector finance institutions. This book will appeal, internationally, to policy makers within the third sector or involved in the management of n-f-p and voluntary organisations, as well as to those with responsibility for wider public policy, scholars teaching or researching in this area, and students of business and management preparing for roles in social enterprises.
About the Author: Graham Manville is a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management at the University of East Anglia and a Certified Management Consultant. He lectures on Strategic Management, Performance Management, Operations Management and Entrepreneurial Management. He was formerly the University's Assistant Dean for Enterprise for the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences. Manville moved into academia after spending 15 years in industry. His research in Third Sector performance management has been honoured with several awards and he has co-authored a book on balanced scorecard for practitioners in SMEs. Manville is a reviewer for journals including Public Money and Management, the International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, and Measuring Business Excellence. He sits on the editorial board of the Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management. Richard Greatbanks is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management within the Department of Management, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. He is a Chartered Manufacturing Engineer and has held several technical and managerial positions within aerospace manufacture. After spending more than 13 years in the UK Aerospace Industry, Greatbanks moved to academia. Greatbanks's research interests are in the areas of quality process improvement and performance measurement, particularly in conjunction with healthcare, public sector and service organisations. The development and application of Six Sigma approaches to service quality is a specialism. Both editors have recently co-edited a special edition of the International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management on the theme of Third Sector Performance Measurement and Management (July 2010).